As winter approaches, humanitarian watchdogs are sounding the alarm over the increasingly likely possibility of mass starvation across Afghanistan, a deeply impoverished nation whose economy plunged into a tailspin after the United States' withdrawal of troops in August. David Beasley, the executive director of the United Nations' World Food Program, has deemed it “the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth.”
"Ninety-five percent of the people don't have enough food, and now we're looking at 23 million people marching toward starvation," he recently told BBC News. "The next six months are going to be catastrophic. It is going to be hell on Earth."
Now that the Taliban are Afghanistan’s government, this forbids most aid in the country, even if it is granted directly to Afghan civilians.
The Treasury Department has opened some humanitarian exceptions to sanctions. But these are so narrow and vaguely defined that most international groups have concluded they have no choice but to stop all services in Afghanistan, according to a paper by the Center for Global Development.
As a result, not only are aid groups unable to ameliorate the food shortages imperiling many civilians, they have had to pull back even from services they offered before the Taliban takeover.